At our August general meeting, Hugh Evers asked if we could recommend someone he could pay to edit his autobiography. I said I wasn’t sure, but I’d put out the word. So if you know someone who could do a good job, please contact Hugh Evers at musicbox49(at)netscape(dot)net.

This conversation got me thinking about the whole topic of editors. Some of us have had good experiences with them. Others not so much. This could make an interesting topic for a general meeting — anyone interested?

Here are a few other interesting resources about editing.

Editors’ Association of Canada:

• Standard freelance editorial agreement
• Professional editorial standards
• Active Voice newsletter
• Searchable directory of editors
• Editing Canadian English, second edition

Editorial Freelancers Association, common editorial rates:

• Copyediting, basic, 5–10 manuscript pages per hour @ $25–40 per hour
• Copyediting, heavy, 2–5 manuscript pages per hour @ $35–50 per hour
• Substantive or line editing, 1–6 manuscript pages per hour @ $40–65 per hour
• Developmental editing, 1–5 manuscript pages per hour @ $50–80 per hour
• One manuscript page = 250 words
• As of September 2008

For reference, here are prices for editing services from some self-publishing companies. These services are often criticized for their expense.

Lulu’s prices for editing:

• Editorial analysis @ $199
• Mechanical edit of up to 7,500 words @ $150
• Lulu offers “complete,” “substantive,” and “developmental” edits at per-word prices I couldn’t find on their website.

Xlibris’s prices for copyediting:

• 10,000 – 60,000 words @ $0.012 per word
• 60,001 – 120,000 words @ $0.011 per word
• 120,001 + words @ $0.01 per word

Self Publishing’s prices for editing:

• Additional proofreading pass @ $0.015 per word
• Basic editing for children’s books @ $250
• Comprehensive editing for children’s books @ $1,950
• Comprehensive editing process @ $0.045 per word
• Editorial analysis @ $99
• Mechanical editing process @ $0.019 per word
• Professional editing for children’s books @ $1,195
• Substantive editing process @ $0.023 per word